US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley pledged during a joint press conference on Wednesday to "learn lessons" from the Afghanistan War, expressing that they feel "pain and anger" after the Taliban, the United States' long-standing adversary, took control of the country. In his first public statement since the chaotic evacuation of 124,000 civilians from Kabul Airport ended on Monday night, Austin said, "There is no such thing as a perfect operation." He added, "We want to extract every possible lesson from this experience."
The Defense Secretary dedicated part of his remarks to honoring the sacrifices of the 800,000 US military personnel who served in Afghanistan since 2001, of which 2,461 service members lost their lives in the war, including 13 who were killed in a suicide bombing during the final hours of the withdrawal. For his part, General Milley acknowledged that the past few days have been "incredibly difficult emotionally." He stated, "We are all torn between pain, anger, sadness, and grief on one hand, and pride and resilience on the other." He continued, "We will learn from this experience," emphasizing that "what led us to that condition will be studied for years."
The Chairman assured that the US military will address the events in Afghanistan transparently and will learn from this experience. He said, "We, the military, will approach this matter with humility, transparency, and candor. There are many tactical, operational, and strategic lessons to be drawn." Meanwhile, Austin acknowledged that the end of a war initiated by the United States in 2001 to oust the Taliban may be difficult for soldiers who lost comrades in Afghanistan, as well as for the families of the fallen service members. He stated, "I know the past few days have been difficult for many of us. One should not expect more from Afghanistan veterans than from other Americans. I have heard very strong opinions in the past few days. That is very important. It is democracy."
The war began in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks, which killed 2,977 people in the United States in one day, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was based in Afghanistan and whom the Taliban refused to surrender to Washington. However, what was intended as a limited retaliatory military operation evolved into a massive project to rebuild Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from returning to power, which occurred within days, even before the Americans completed their withdrawal from Kabul. Austin stated that he will visit the Gulf region next week, where US allies facilitated the evacuation of a significant portion of Afghan refugees.
